Sukma (Chhattisgarh) [India]: A Naxal couple, one among whom was carrying a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to his capture, surrendered before security forces in the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, police said on Friday.
According to the police, the couple surrendered after facing “discrimination” within the rank and file of the banned Left-wing outfit.
The surrendered Naxal couple was identified as Muchaki Galle and Muchaki Bhima, informed Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDOP) Tongpal Tomesh Verma, confirming that the female Naxal cadre was carrying a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh on her head.
“The Naxal couple surrendered before security forces as part of an ongoing campaign named ‘Puna Narkom’ (a term in the Gondi dialect meaning New Dawn). The campaign was launched by the Chhattisgarh government as part of its surrender and rehabilitation policy for Naxals,” the SDOP said.
Police said the couple was “impressed” with the government’s surrender and rehabilitation policy and disgruntled with the banned outfit.
Three weeks ago, two Naxal couples, carrying a combined cash reward of Rs 20 lakh, surrendered before security personnel in the insurgency-hit Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh.
As of June 17, since the launch of the surrender campaign, as many as 609 Naxalites, among them 157 carrying cash rewards, have laid down their arms in the Dantewada district, the government informed through an official statement earlier.
Earlier, on Tuesday, the central government informed the Lok Sabha that incidents of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) or Naxal violence and resultant deaths decreased by 77 per cent and 90 per cent respectively in 2022 as compared to 2010.
The number of districts reporting LWE violence has also come down from 96 in 2010 to 45 in 2022, Union Minister of State for Home, Nityanad Rai, said, sharing the data in response to a query in the Lower House.
On the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme for LWE-affected areas, the minister said a total of Rs 30,695 lakh fund was released in 2022-23 under the scheme to 10 Naxal-affected states, including Andhra Pradesh (Rs 1,422.68 lakh), Bihar (Rs 1, 415.98 lakhs), Chhattisgarh (Rs 1,3334.72 lakh), Jharkhand (Rs 6,094.67 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (Rs 498.03 lakh), Maharashtra (Rs 1,515.05 lakh), Odisha (Rs 4,939.85 lakh), Telangana (Rs 1,116.64 lakh), Uttar Pradesh (Rs 150.69 lakh), and West Bengal (Rs 206.69 lakh).
